Passion Restored (Gallagher Brothers #2) by Carrie Ann Ryan

The Gallagher Brothers series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues with the one brother who thinks he can handle it all and the one woman who could change that.

Owen Gallagher likes everything in its place and is organized to a fault. While his brothers have each dealt with their own personal tragedies and stresses, Owen figures he’s had it pretty easy. That is until his perfectly ordered world is rocked at its foundation and he’s forced to rely on others. Now, he must heal his body and his soul while trying to ignore his delectable and utterly off-limits neighbor.

Liz McKinley is stressed out, exhausted, and not in the mood for a bearded and growly man in her ER. When she patches him up to the best of his ability, she’s prepared to push him firmly from her thoughts. Of course, that would be easier if she and her best friend hadn’t bought the house next to his. Now their paths seem to cross daily, and she is finding it harder and harder to say no to the injured and angry man next door. But she’s been scarred one too many times in her life, and even though this Gallagher looks good enough to eat, she knows that sometimes, sating that craving is the worst thing she can do.

EXCERPT:

“Looks like your new neighbor is finally settling in,” Blake said. “I would have thought they’d have gotten their stuff before now.”

Owen almost shrugged but thought better of it at the last moment. “I was busy before the accident, and I think whoever moved next door must have been too because I haven’t even seen them yet. They may have been around more this last week, but I wasn’t here. Maybe it just took them this long to find time for the movers or something.” He could understand that since his job tended to take over his life, as well. Not that it had recently since the others had cut him off. However, that would change just as soon as his family got in their vehicles and left.

He looked over at the other house again and froze when a familiar blonde head popped up from behind the truck. His heart raced and his throat went dry. Holy hell.

“Holy shit,” Murphy murmured from his side. “Is that the hot nurse from the bar? Liz, right?”

Maya leaned over so she and Noah could get a better look and smiled. “Well, look at that.”

“You didn’t know she’d moved next door?” Blake asked.

“No,” Owen said softly, trying to get his brain to catch up with the rest of him. Hell, he’d forgotten how beautiful she was, considering he hadn’t seen her since they wheeled him away for surgery, and he’d been a little drugged up at that point. He wasn’t drugged up now and his dick was about to stand at attention just at the mere sight of her. “Maybe she’s just helping her friend?”

The brunette from the bar walked out of the house at that point, and Murphy let out a soft laugh. “Maybe Tessa moved next door instead. Come on, man, let’s go meet the neighbors.” Murphy turned to him. “You okay to walk, or do you need me to grab the wheelchair.”

Owen set his jaw. “I’m good.” He would be, damn it, even if he ended up sweating through his shirt from the exertion. He wasn’t in that much pain, it was just uncomfortable. Thankfully, his incision site barely hurt anymore. And since he’d caught sight of Liz, he wasn’t thinking about pain. No, the endorphins running through his system just from seeing her were taking care of any discomfort he might have.

“Hey, ladies,” Murphy called out, and Blake sighed from Owen’s side.

“He is seriously going to flirt with your neighbors right now on their moving day,” Blake said with a laugh. “You can’t take him anywhere, can you?”

“That’s why we love him,” Owen said with a smile. Of course, he only had eyes for Liz at that moment, who had turned at the sound of Murphy’s voice to look at them. Her eyes had gone wide, and her face paled slightly. He hoped she was just surprised because going pale at the sight of him wasn’t the reaction he had hoped for, and definitely not the best way to start things.

Start things?

What the hell was he talking about? This was his new neighbor, not someone he was going to start something with. He needed to get his head on straight.

*sigh* .. so I have mixed feeling/emotions about this book. One thing that bothers me is that I couldn’t get into the story and I don’t know why. The book was well written, there’s no doubt about that, I just had trouble sitting down and really focusing on the story. It took me forever to read it. There is also nothing I can point at and say .. I didn’t like that. I am completely befuddled by this book.

Anywho, let’s chat about Owen and Liz for a minute. Very likeable characters for sure, but I didn’t feel connected to them. Nothing in their story drew me to them. But I didn’t not like their story either. I’m telling you …. weird!

So for me, the book lands very middle of the road but leaning to the right in rating because I didn’t not like the story. Make sense? Probably not LOL I dunno, Carrie Ann Ryan is an excellent wordsmith and I would still highly recommend all her words because … one book does not define an author 🙂 She has proven time and time again that she is an exceptional writer!

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About Carrie Ann Ryan

Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Talon Pack, and Gallagher Brothers series, which have sold over 2.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over fifty novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not writing about bearded tattooed men or alpha wolves that need to find their mates, she’s reading as much as she can and exploring the world of baking and gourmet cooking.